Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Our money gives me a sense of security - and I'll admit it here - a little bit of glee. Both our families are ridiculous with money - spend, spend, spend. They think we have nothing because we are frugal and careful and they pity us. In reality we have had more then them for years. I look forward to the day they run out of money. It will be interesting to watch those tables turn.

Well, whatever makes you happy. Don't deprive yourself for the sake of others, that's the only thing.

We live in the house we want, drive the cars we want, wear the clothes we want, and eat the food we want. The adult offspring of a friend went and spent $500/head for some private multi-course dinner event hosted by a famous chef. He makes almost no money, he spent the money on himself and his girlfriend because YOLO. That's a poor decision. But if we wanted to go and try something like that, I wouldn't think twice about what others thought about it.

Not at all. Our money gives me a sense of security - and I'll admit it here - a little bit of glee. Both our families are ridiculous with money - spend, spend, spend. They think we have nothing because we are frugal and careful and they pity us. In reality we have had more then them for years. I look forward to the day they run out of money. It will be interesting to watch those tables turn.

Anonymous wrote:No, same here pp. I worked hard and lived like a pauper. My husband and I travel all of the time. I commuted to college because I couldn't afford to live in a dorm. If more people lived like paupers in their youth, they probably would have more money later on.

Never, no way. When I walk through the door after a hard day at work, and DH walks through the door at 8pm wiped out from a 12 hour day there is no room or reason to feel any guilt.
This doesn't mean that I'm a scrooge though. We never forget how fortunate we are and give of our time and wallets whenever we feel its appropriate.

We have worked very hard to get where we are, which is really just a notch above "middle class" when compared to others in the DC area. We are not wealthy or even rich, that said we can afford to take one nice vacation every year, save for retirement, pay ONE private school tuition for our ADHD DS, buy groceries and pay the mortgage without worrying about running out of money at the end of each month.